Gas-turbine engine



3 Sheets-Sheet l /M/f/vme E14/TW MOR/LEVA@ TE RENca Eoyvmo GouveN-r GAnomEn Filed April so, 194s Dec. 2, 1952 F. w. w. MoRLEY ET AL 2,620,157

GAS-TURBINE ENGINE Filed April so, 194e 5 shets-sheen 2 w "f s W v 7* 52@ un m MEQ' S @Q NNN lfb DeC- 2, 1952 F. w. w. MORLEY ETAL 2,620,157

GAS-TURBINE: ENGINE Filed April 30, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Z 17a 9 176V.

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r /A/l/fA/roe FW W MOEEYAN@ 'We as n c E EowAno Gow/m31' GA omen Patented Dec. 2, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GAS-TURBINE ENGINE ish company Application April 30, 1948, Serial No. 24,156 In Great Britain May 6, 1947 8 Claims.

This invention relates to gas-turbine engines and is particularly concerned with such engines of the kind in which a bearing for the turbine rotor is located on the exhaust side of the rotor and is supported by the turbine stationary structure or by an exhaust duct structure which is secured to such stationary turbine structure.

Such an arrangement of the turbine bearing is especially although not exclusively applicable to gas-turbine engines of relatively small diametral dimension in which the reduced space available within an intermediate casing connecting the compressor casing and turbine casing does not readily permit the location of the turbine bearing on the upstream side of the turbine.

According to this invention a turbine bearing in a gas-turbine engine of the kind referred to, is mounted in a housing, which housing is supported by the stationary turbine structure or exhaust duct structure attached to said stationary turbine structure, -by means of a series of radiating support members having radially sliding engagement with the turbine stationary structure vor with the exhaust duct structure, thereby permitting relative radial expansion, lwhilst retaining the housing in centralised location.

The radiating members are conveniently in the form of hollow tubes and are adapted to carry lubricating uid to the bearing and/or to carry cooling air to the bearing and rear face of the turbine rotor.

One construction of gas-turbine engine embodying the above and other features of the invention will now be described by way of example reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a gasturbine engine of the type to which the invention is especially applicable,

Figure 2 is a sectional View taken on the line 2--2 of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a sectional View similar to Figure 2 but taken on a plane which is 90 degrees angularly removed from the plane of line 2--2 of Figure 1.

The gas-turbine engine is of relatively small diametral dimension and comprises a compressor IIl and a turbine II illustrated as a single-stage turbine, the rotors Illa, Ila of which are interconnected by a driving shaft I2. The compressor casing Ib and turbine casing IIb are interconnected by an intermediate casing I3 within which and around the shaft I2 there is provided combustion equipment I4 to which air is delivered from the compressor. Combustion Vgases pass from the combustion equipment I4 to the turbine II and then to an exhaust assembly I5 comprising a substantially conical fairing I and an outer casing Il providing between them an annular exhaust duct registering at its inlet end with the turbine outlet and terminating in jetpipe I3. As will be seen from the drawings, the outer casing I'I is double-walled, the inner wall Ila being spaced radially inwards from the outer wall IIb and forming the outer exhaust duct defining wall. The inner wall I'Ia. will normally be made from sheet metal and the outer wall Ilb will be stronger; it may for example be a casting.

The rotor assembly, that is the compressor rotor Illa, the shaft I2 and the turbine rotor I Ia, is mounted in bearings, there being a bearing (not shown) at the forward end of the assembly a, bearing I9 at the compressor end of shaft I2 and a bearing 20 at the turbine end of the assembly. Due to the lack of space in the intermediate casing I3 between the shaft I2 and combustion equipment I4 this latter bearing 2U is provided on a, stub-shaft 2| rearwardly extending from the turbine rotor I Ia and is accommodated within the fairing I6 of the exhaust assembly I5.

The bearing 20 comprises a series of balls or rollers located between the end of the stub-shaft 2l which carries the inner race of the bearing and an outer race mounted within a bearing housing. The housing comprises a dished disc 22 which is located axially beyond the end of the stub-shaft 2I with its convex surface facing towards the turbine and is provided with a hollow rim 23 on the convex face to encircle the end of the stub-shaft. The hollow rim supports a T- sectioned ring 24 carrying the outer race and a flanged ring 25 co-operating with an oil seal between the outer race and the stub-shaft 2| to form an oil seal. The bearing is thus enclosed within a chamber 26 constituted by the dished disc 22, the hollow rim 23, the T-sectioned ring 24 and oil seal ring 25.

The outer surface of the hollow rim 23 is formed with a series of four ports opening into the interior of the rim and is provided around the ports with seating surfaces 23al to which are secured the inner ends of four supporting members 2l. The supporting members 2l are in the form of tubes and are bell-mouthed at their inner ends 28 to engage on the seating surfaces 23u. The tubes are symmetrically arranged around the rim 23 and extend outwardly through apertures in the fairing I6 and the inner and outer walls IIU. and I'Ib of the outer casing II of the exhaust assembly I5 with which the tubes have a sliding engagement to permit relative radial expansion. For this purpose guide bushes 29 are mounted on the outer surface of the inner wall lla. of the outer casing I1, the guide bushes 29 being secured on a strengthening web 30 which is in turn secured on the outer surface of the inner wall Ila. The outer ends of the tubes 21 project beyond the bushes 29 and slidingly engage in bored bosses I'lc formed on the outer lwall [1b. The tubes 2'! are inclined rearwardly and outwardly so that the outer ends of the tubes are positioned further to the rear of the engine than the inner ends of the tubes. In other words, the tubes 2l are not true radii of the axis of the engine.

The portions of the tubes 21 which engage with the guide bushes 29 are of circular cross-section and the parts which extend across the exhaust passage are preferably elliptical to facilitate their accommodation in aerofoil-section fairings 3l supporting the fairing i6 from the casing I?.

One `opposite pair of the tubes 2l are connected at their outer ends to air pipe lines 32 whereby cooling air is delivered into the hollow rim 23 to cool the bearing housing. Ports 33 are formed in the rim permitting the cooling air to ow forwardly to the rear face of the turbine disc Ila and the air then flows outwardly between the dis Ila and an annular closure plate 34 which is supported from the fairing I6 to cool the turbine disc. The closure plate has at its inner radius an axially extending sleeve portion 35 which engages with the hollow rim.

The other pair of oppositely disposed tubes 2l accommodate oil pipe lines 36 `which are of such diameter as to leave an air space between them and the tubes, one of the pipe lines passing through the hollow rim 23 and terminating in a nozzle 3l for directing lubricant onto the bearings 29. The oil pipe lines 3B lslidingly engage at their outer ends in the ends of oil pipes 53, sealing means 43a being provided to prevent leakage of oil around the ends of the pipe lines 36 into the spaces between them and the tubes 2l. An air bleed 38 is provided at the outer ends of these tubes to ensure that air circulates from the hollow rim through the air spaces between the pipe lines 36 and the tubes 2l.

The tubes 2l are also formed with ports 39 opening into a double-walled insulation casing Ztl which encloses the bearing housing and is located centrally within the fairing I6. The insulation casing 48 assists in preventing over-heating of the bearing. The cooling air flowing into it from the tubes 2l passes rearwardly between the walls of the casing to ports 4l located at its rear end and into the space between the casing 4u and the fairings I5. A louvred outlet i2 for the air is provided in the fairing i6 adjacent its apex. Guide bushes 44, similar to the guide bushes 29, are provided on each wall of the double-walled insulation casing 43 where the support tubes 2 pass through the walls, thus permitting relative expansion between the support tubes 2l of the heat insulation casing 4E.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the invention provides a simple construction of turbine beaiing mounting in which the bearing is located rearwardly of the turbine and in which the bearing is eiiectively insulated from the effects of high-temperature exhaust gases. The invention also permits relative radial expansion between the bearing supporting structure and the casing of the gasturbine engine andensures that the bearing is accurately located.

We claim:

l. An axial-flow turbine comprising a turbine rotor, a shaft extending from said turbine rotor on the downstream side thereof, bearing means to support said shaft, a bearing housing to support said bearing means, stationary turbine structure surrounding said turbine rotor and supporting an exhaust assembly including a structural member secured to the turbine stationary structure and extending downstream of the turbine, an outer duct-defining wall accommodated within said structural member, and an inner duct-dening wall around said bearing housing and spaced radially inwards from the outer duct-delining wall, said inner and outer duct-denng walls affording between them an annular exit passage from said turbine, and a plurality of housing support members radiating from and secured at their inner ends to said bearing housing, said housing support members passing through said inner duct-defining wall and said outer duct-defining wall with freedom for movement lengthwise of themselves with respect to said inner duct-defining wall and with respect to said outer ductdening wall, and being directly engaged at their outer ends with said structural member to be supported thereby and to have sliding freedom lengthwise of themselves with respect to said structural member.

2. An axial-flow turbine as claimed in claim l, wherein said bearing housing is formed with a hollow rim encircling said bearing, and wherein one at least of the housing support members is formed with a passage extending axially therethrough, and comprising means to supply cooling air under pressure to said passage, and a connection between the inner end of said passage and said hollow rim.

3. An axial-flow turbine as claimed in claim l, wherein the housing support members are located in axial planes and are inclined rearwardly from true radii through their points of attachment to the bearing housing.

4. An axial-flow turbine comprising a turbine rotor, a rotor shaft extending from said turbine rotor on the downstream side thereof, bearing means to support said rotor shaft, a bearing housing to support said bearing means, stationary turbine structure surrounding said turbine rotor and supporting an exhaust assembly including a structural member secured to the stationary turbine structure and extending downstream of the turbine, an outer duct-defining wall accommodated within said structural member, and an inner duct-defining wall around said bearing housing and spaced radially inwards from the outer duct-denning wall, said inner and outer duct-defining walls affording between them an annular exit passage from said turbine, an insulation casing enclosing said bearing housing and located within the inner duct-dening wall, and a plurality of housing support members secured at their inner ends to said bearing housing, said housing support members extending outwardly from the bearing housing through the insulation casing and inner and outer duct-defining walls to engage with said structural member at their outer ends and said housing support members having sliding freedom'lengthwise of them selves with respect to said structural member, said outer duot-deiining wall, said inner duct-defining wall and said insulation casing.

5. An axial-flow turbine as claimed in claim 4, wherein said insulation Icasing is formed as a double-walled structure with an air-space between the walls and means is provided for' supplying cooling air to the air-space.

6. An axial-flow turbine comprising a turbine rotor assembly including a turbine disc and a shaft element extending from the turbine disc on the exhaust side thereof, stationary turbine structure accommodating the turbine rotor assembly and supporting inner and Outer wall structures extending downstream from the turbine disc to define a turbine exhaust annulus, a bearing for the shaft element, a bearing housing for the bearing, the bearing and bearing housing being accommodated within the inner wall structure, and a plurality of bearing housing support members secured by their inner ends to the bearing housing and extending outwardly from the bearing housing to pass freely through the inner Wall structure and to engage slidingly by their outer ends with the outer wall structure, whereby the bearing housing is located from the outer wall structure and said support members are free for relative thermal expansion with respect to the inner and outer wall structures lengthwise of themselves.

7. An axial-flow turbine as claimed in claim 6, comprising also a heat insulation casing accommodated within the inner Wall structure and surrounding the bearing housing, said housing sup- FREDERICK WILLIAM WALTON MORLEY. TERENCE EDWARD GOUVENT GAR/DINER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,414,788 Altorfer et al Jan. 28, 1947 2,414,814 Johnson Jan. 28, 1947 2,439,447 Buck et al. Apr. 13, 1948 2,442,019 Ray May 25, 1948 2,479,573 Howard Aug. 23, 1949 

